Red herring?

Prospective Labour candidates Peter Purvis and Mick Thompson would have us believe that the closing down of the steel industry was to blame for the degeneration of Thorntree Estate (Successes And Failures, 18.01.07).

Prospective Labour candidates Peter Purvis and Mick Thompson would have us believe that the closing down of the steel industry was to blame for the degeneration of Thorntree Estate (Successes And Failures, 18.01.07).

Thousands were employed by the industry and many lived in other estates but none of these estates went the same way as Thorntree.

It's no use offering the excuse that plans are now in hand to improve the area - the fact is that it is, and has been, "looked after" by Labour for at least 40 years.

And in all that time, it has gone from bad to worse.

I should know, my job involved door to door collections in that area over a few years and I witnessed at first hand its demise.

Day after day I saw litter and fly-tipping not removed. I saw gardens full of rubbish and weeds, and burned out cars in the street.